Booti

Has anyone ever adjusted the hardtop rear bayonet fittings? Mine has been fitted for the winter and its squeaking and rattling that much I want to take it back off after a week.
I have been reading up on the PDF file (linked from the technical FAQ). It would suggest the adjustment is on the hardtop side, not the fixing brackets.
How hard is to strip the interior trim to get to the bolts please?

Also, I have the age old common leak on the soft top (wet drivers shoulder in the morning)
Has anyone managed to work out how the water gets in? I can see that it's gathering in the U shaped frame at the from of the mechanism, then leaks out of the first fold point, but I cant work out how it gets in.
The seals are all tight (it never leaks during normal driving, only when it's stood over night), the roof has been proofed and there are no holes.

Thanks

richmc

Thy the age old cure of doing a forum search, works every time.

Nottm_S2

The plastic panels on the HT just pull off iirc

Adjustment is easy, 3 bolts per side

How tight are the front catchers?

Booti

Ok, so I am guessing they are just held on with those interior panel clips then? Looking at the diagram again, am I right in saying you have remove the door window seal as well?
I see from the diagram there are 5 bolts per side. 3 going into the hardtop side and 2 downward to the bracket. Is it a case of one set do the height and the other forward / backwards movement, or do the 3 bolts do all the adjustment?

The front catchers are loose to be honest. There is no tension like I have with the soft top. You can lock it off with a gentle push of one finger.
My thinking at the moment is the hardtop needs to go backwards a little to tension the front catches and then down at the back to stop it moving and therefore the rubber seals squeaking.

Floppy

You should only need to adjust the catches on the hard top. The locating backers attached to the car itself are not adjustable.

Pull the plastic panels off the inside of the hard top and then you'll have to loosen the 3 bolts on the locating pins. Its a real faff to get them right but it is possible. All I'd recommend is not to put the plastic panels back on until you've adjusted/driven and re-adjusted until you're happy. Just be careful when you adjust them that the windows don't touch the edge of the hard top at any point as that can happen too. You'll get a rub spot on the black band of metal around the outer edge where the window seals are otherwise.

For the front catches, you can either replace them. I have a spare set you can have for £25 plus postage or put some clear tubing around the striker pins. You can buy oxygen air tubing from your local tropical fish shop for that and it works well to stop rattling and creaking as well as hold the hard top tighter so you get reduced wind noise too.

Booti

Thanks for the info.
I had looked at the rubber tubing method, but with all the noise coming from the rear, I figured those brackets needed adjusting more.

Floppy

It probably all needs doing but wind noise will mainly come from the front between the windscreen frame and roof edge from experience. Rattles will definitely be the locator pins and adjustment, otherwise it may be your rear parcel shelf or surrounding plastics.

Make sure you get someone else to give you a hand though, its a PITA to sort on your own as it often takes adjustment of both sides at the same time to make it sit nicely.

ogg2000

I struggled for ages to get my hardtop to stop rattling and squeaking at the back.

I'm sure there are many combinations of adjustment, (mis)alignment and wear that make it unlikley there's a common fix.

I never found adjusting the three rear bolts on the hardtop make any difference. Mine squeaked but I couldn't detect any movement at the rear at all. It took a lot of work to stop movement and rattles at the front. I tried all the usual quick/cheap 'fixes' - tubing, slotting - all dismal failures. In the end it came down to wear on the front catches conical bosses. I replaced these and the catchers and got a tight slop free fit. I think the key is that the bosses must be a tight fit in the catchers. If you put your finger on the rubber bit where the catcher meets the catch while driving along, and can feel anything more than the slightest movement, you may have to fix the front fit.

Also be aware that the front catchers (on the windscreen frame) are different on GT cars i.e. specifically for the hardtop. I could never work out why they needed to be and what the curious rubber inserts are for.

There are also 3 shims under each catch, the two bolts are thread locked in and so difficult to shift. I had to go down to one shim each side to get the front to sit on the seal properly.

D.

nsf

Has anyone managed to work out how to resolve the well know water leak? I have had the seals around both doors replaced and although things are better water still gets in.